Against the World
by Red Tigress
Summary: Tony doesn't have many friends, but he can always count on the ones he does.


_A/N:Cleaning up my drive today, and found this. It was basically complete, so I'm publishing it as a one-shot. DON'T WORRY, Ripples is still actively in progress. Thanks for reading, I know I have a whump problem._

Tony Stark was startled out of his doze by Jarvis' voice.

"_Sir? Sir!"_

The now-warm ice pack tumbled off Tony's forehead as he sat up on the couch. The room spun for a moment, but Tony blinked a few times and it seemed to right himself. " 'mup, I'm up," he mumbled. His forearms and face were sticky with sweat, and his whole body ached.

"_Sir, I apologize, but Director Fury is calling. He claims it's urgent."_

"Get someone else to handle it," Tony mumbled, sinking back down on the couch.

"_Sir,may I remind you the rest of the Avengers are taking care of the issue in El Paso. You were left behind because you were determined by Captain Rogers to be unwell. An assessment I still agree with, given that your temperature is 100.8 degrees farenheit."_

Tony moaned, getting to his feet. "I didn't ask, Jarvis! And by the way, stop volunteering that information to other people."

"_My apologies again, Sir, but I was only agreeing with Captain Rogers' assessment. Director Fury?"_

"Patch him through."

"_Stark, I need you to suit up right now,"_ Fury's voice growled.

"Look, I'm pretty sure they don't need me in El Paso-"

"_Hammer's got some new techno-droids on Wall Street that are taking down my guys as fast as I can mount a defense. I need Iron Man down there asap."_

Tony took a moment to mentally catalogue where Pepper was, if Hammer had escaped and was attacking things already. It took his sluggish brain a minute longer than he would have liked, but he remembered she was in D.C. at a Department of Energy hearing.

Not that she couldn't handle herself, especially after that business with Killian, but he knew his most annoying enemy did have it out for her.

Most annoying, not worst.

"I'm on my way."

Jarvis' protests were minimal as he suited up in the Mark 43. Tony swayed somewhat dizzily as the pieces flew on to him. More streamlined than the 42 had been. He had improved the design somewhat, but this was the only improvement. On his only suit.

He didn't regret it, though. In many ways, having only one suit made him the securest he'd ever been.

"J, how many we talkin'?"

"_From Director Fury's reports, the number seems to be in the mid-thirties."_

"That's not so bad, takin' care of business and go home, then?" Tony flew down to the abandoned street, landing hard enough to crack the asphalt. But then he got his first good look at the new models. His HUD immediately focused on what seemed to be quickly vibrating blades on the wrist joints of the drones. The bodies were sleeker. And bullets had been replaced with lasers.

"Yiiiiiiiikes," Tony said as he dodged the first laser fire. He aimed his repulsors, knocking two back into their fellows.

"_Behind you,"_ Jarvis intoned urgently, and Tony spun, slightly off balance. Two more droids were there, and he blasted his repulsors again. It was close enough that it tore one apart. The other flew into a parked car, but Tony could still see it moving.

A vicious hit from his side knocked him over. Damn, where had _that_ one come from? They were definitely more organized. Either Hammer had a new drone pilot, or the man himself had gotten smarter. Tony grunted as he landed on his back, but brought up one boot. The thrusters turned on, shooting him backwards and blasting apart his attacker.

He could feel the sweat running in rivulets down his neck and chest. He swallowed dryly, as he tried to bring the HUD back into focus. "How…how many…" he panted as two more came marching towards him. They both fired lasers and he rolled out of the way. He swung his legs up and over his torso, using the thrusters to help his momentum. The motion was slightly jarring, and things blurred out of focus once more as he shot into the air.

"_Sir, your fever is rising-"_

"Damnit, Jarvis, answer the question I asked you!"

Jarvis' voice answered him tonelessly. "_There are still 29 operational units."_

"Thank you. You can be mad at me later." The A.I. didn't dignify that with a reply. "I need-"

"_Sir, your left!"_

Tony tried to spin in mid-air, but his brain was feeling sluggish and every time he turned his head it took things too long to settle into focus. He heard the screech of metal before he felt the metal plates around his left torso vibrate alarmingly. A moment after that, he felt something hot tear into the delicate flesh underneath. He cried out, lashing out from impulse. The repulsors went off, repelling him backwards and away from the danger. His HUD was flashing red, showing close ups of the damage area, but he could feel blood slowly oozing down his side.

He grunted, willing himself to finish this. They were Hammer Drones for godssakes! He should have been done and home by now. It didn't matter if he was sick, he was Tony freaking Stark, and he could finish things alone.

His angry bravado was interrupted when another force crashed into his back, sending him flying back towards the ground. The armor held, but he still felt the Earth slam into him.

"_Sir! Help is on the way, but you must-"_

"Divert p-power to-" He stumbled over his own words as something grabbed his helmet, smashing it face first into the ground. Something else grabbed his wrist and he could hear Jarvis shouting but he couldn't make any sense of it. He may have hit his head or it may have been the fever, maybe it was both. But shapes and colors were swimming out of his vision and shivers were starting to wrack his body. Whatever had a hold of his wrist began squeezing harshly, and he felt the same shocking vibration of metal on his gauntlet that meant a blade was about to slice through the metal like butter.

Oh god. He was going to die in the street, alone, on account of Justin Fucking Hammer.

Pepper would never forgive him.

He tried to pull his arm away as he felt metal slice through flesh, but then his head was being slammed into the ground again. He lost whatever control he had been clinging on to, and drifted into blackness for a moment.

Suddenly his hand was dropped and the pressure on his helmet disappeared. A voice, not Jarvis' was speaking to him.

"Oh my _god_ Tony, if you're letting Hammer kick your ass, you're not in good shape."

Tony couldn't help the grin that crossed his face. "Least he hasn't…hacked my suit…" he tried to say it with a cockiness he definitely did not feel right now. He limply rolled himself over as a black and silver boot filled his vision. He lifted his head, and could see War Machine in his entirety, standing over Tony's own limp form.

He was like an angel from heaven.

"See you got…old paint job," Tony panted, doing his best to pull himself to his feet.

War Machine let off a series of blasts, keeping the drones at a distance. "Well, when someone wearing your own flag kidnaps your president, it doesn't send a great message about the new paint job." Rhodey was cracking jokes, but Tony didn't miss the undercurrent of worry in his voice. "Tony, is that blood coming out of your suit?"

"It's, uh, paint," Tony breathed, making it to his feet. He wobbled a lot.

"_Sir has a fever of 102.1 degrees-"_ Jarvis intoned to Rhodey.

"Shit!" Both Tony and Rhodey shouted at the same time. Tony at Jarvis, Rhodey at Tony. War Machine's mini-gun took out two more drones, and Tony managed to cut across the torsos of four with a wrist-mounted laser before he popped it out, depleted.

"Only a few more man, we got this," Rhodey assured him.

And _damn_ if Tony didn't latch on to that cool confidence of his best friend like a drowning man. Between him, Jarvis and Rhodey, _they got this_.

He primed up the second laser cutting down three more robots that came up behind them. He heard Rhodey's repulsors go off as they stood back to back, them against the world.


End file.
